Leaderboard

I suppose a good place to start the story of the Truckers is with how we got into climbing in the first place. Rich and I were friends in junior high school in the mid-60s, and we began hiking on the North Fork of the Skokomish and other hikes in that area around that time, usually with one or more of his eight brothers coming along. The first indication that we were heading toward climbing, was when we hiked to First Divide. Coming up out of the forests into more open country – the beauty of the meadows, and the ability to see a wider expanse, enticed us to hike to higher places. At that time, there was no climber’s guide to the Olympics, but Rich had an uncle who had gone up Mt. Washington, and gave us a general idea of the route. We successfully ascended it and felt the satisfaction of getting to a summit. But there was also that feeling of anticipation as you’re approaching the ridge leading to the summit, and then the exhilaration of seeing the mountains, valleys, and ridges beyond it that hooked me. Since there was no climbing guide, we relied on topographic maps and a compass to plan and execute a climb. Sometimes that worked out – sometimes not. There are a lot of details missing on topographic maps. We would start ascending what looked on a map to be a relatively steady incline to find an impassable cliff, or a slope covered with devil’s club. You can see how the concept of a “truck route” would evolve as we took roundabout routes to find our way to summits like Mt. Pershing, or North Brother. Originally, we saw rock-climbing as kind of crazy, but as some of the summits became more technical, we realized the necessity of learning that skill. We turned to “Mountaineering – The Freedom of the Hills” (1st Edition) for guidance. We went to the hardware store and got a rope and practiced rappelling on Green Mountain, which was close to home for us, and practiced belaying techniques to protect the one rappelling. A couple years later, we replaced it with a Goldline climbing rope from the REI warehouse store on 11th Ave in Seattle. That store was a trip It was an old warehouse with a strange smell and a lot of stuff at cheap prices. The only other place to get similar gear was Eddie Bauer, which was very upscale. We paid one or two dollars to become members, and bought nearly all our gear there. · Used Climbing boots - (heavy leather boots with Vibram soles that I used whether hiking, climbing, or rock climbing - $30) · Steel crampons that would fit my boots (about $15) · A wooden ice axe – Himalaya Pickel, model Kuno Rainer, made in Austria ($13) · And lots of other equipment, like nylon webbing, pitons, hammers, gaiters – all much heavier and bulkier than the equipment you see today. I had a Cruiser pack that was too large for most of our trips, but I got a smaller Jan Sport pack in the early 70s at a discount because I worked at the K2 ski factory on Vashon Island at that time. I haven’t done any serious climbing for quite a while and, except for the ice axe, it’s all been given away. I can’t part with the ice axe – it’s been used and misused, on well over a hundred climbs, and has saved my life on many occasions. We got climbing pants at a military surplus store for $3. One hundred percent wool, with padded butt and knees, baggy above the knee, and cuffs just above the ankle. I’m not sure which servicemembers wore them, but they were indestructible, warm, and comfortable. You can get a general idea of them from one of the photos attached to a previous post. My Himalaya Pickel

You asked if anyone knew about the truckers. I was a part of that organization a long time ago. I remember when we placed the register on the Citadel, but I don’t remember which other summits we put registers on. We climbed lots of mountains in the Olympics as well as many of the minor peaks and even some unnamed peaks. The truckers were active from about 1970 to maybe 1977 or 78. Most of the time our membership consisted of 3 - 5 guys. Our name was inspired by a common phrase of that time: “Keep on Truckin’. “ we generally avoided common routes up mountains. We referred to our routes as “truck routes,” and the leader of a climb was referred to as the “mother trucker.” Almost every September, we would take a cross country route across the Olympics, following ridges as much as possible, and climbing any peaks, we ran into along the way. If you’d like to know more, you can email me (Dave) at sciguy300@gmail.com Nice pictures, and nice to see the register is still there after all this time Thanks for the memory.

Ah, saw this too late. I guess I actually need to check spray more regularly.

I would love to hear all of that stuff. I grew up out there, born in Forks till first grade, then Quilcene from first grade to half way through high school, then PA for the rest of high school and junior college. Via scouts I hiked all over the Olympics. i love those pictures! Reminds me of the pictures of my early scouting days, nobody in Quil had any money and you could see it on the clothes on our back and the gear we had. That was early 80s. tell us about the truckers!

You should tell me what you'd like to know more about. Differences between climbing in the 70s and climbing now? Cool traverses across the Olympic Mts? Idiosyncracies of the Truckers? Rock Climbing ? Climbing Tahoma? Environmental advocacy? Climbing particular peaks? I have quite a few photos that I digitized from slides that I took with a Canon AE1 SLR.I didn't digitize them until they were 40 - 50 years old, so some of them aren't great quality, and, of course, some were just too deteriorated to save. I'll send a few here. Breakfast on an approach to Mt. Lincoln from Wagonwheel Lake. The core group of Truckers: Dave, Rich, and Scott; looking appro priately tough with their Animal Crackers before a grueling climb up some damn peak. Rich chimneying on one of the spires on Jabberwocky Ridge. He went through to the other side to finish the ascent. Scott drew the short straw and therefore, was chosen as the mothertrucker to be first across the Hoh at flood stage on an ill-fated attempt at a winter climb of Mt. Tom.

Thanks, all!

Huge shout out to these guy....the @AAI continues to keep the lights on here. I'm so greatful that they recognize what this site means. Please do pitch business their way, support them because they support us. They have a great gearshop with great selected equipment too, btw. Thank you Jason, we really do appreciate you and your folks!

A reminder of continued gratitude to @Jason_D_Martin and AAI. They continue to be the sole business sponsors of CascadeClimbers. So its between them and user support that keeps us going. Thank you!